Ubercookie
Security and privacy
browser fingerprinting demo
SHOW HN2016
35points
18comments
#915of 2,264 in 2016
Top 41%of 2016 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
1 positive, 6 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 3 critical, out of 10 comments about the project. Thread score -0.05.
Privacy: 1 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Shows how identifiable browsers are; eye-opening privacy demo
From 2 comments
Yeah, that's pretty disturbing. But I seem to get two different fingerprints. Refreshing the page 10 or so times, I usually get one, and then it switches to the other for another…
rasmusei on HNStrange, for me (Chrome on Moto E) simply reloading the page causes the fingerprint to change.
occamrazor on HN
Objections
Fingerprints vary between reloads, so tracking seems unreliable
From 3 comments
Yeah, that's pretty disturbing. But I seem to get two different fingerprints. Refreshing the page 10 or so times, I usually get one, and then it switches to the other for another…
rasmusei on HNI got a different fingerprint on each reload (for about 5-10 reloads). I'm not running noscript, but do have a decent number of other privacy related addons.
jcsvyu789jh on HNSame for me, but, Chrome on OSX. I get a different fingerprint on basically every page reload. Sometimes it repeats.
AdamJacobMuller on HN
Browsers should restrict JavaScript access to screen and layout data
From 2 comments
This is a fundamental problem with running arbitrary untrusted code on your machine. Things like your display size and desktop decorations suddenly become security-relevant.…
mindslight on HNDisplay size is just a nice concrete example of something that seems quite harmless, but is not. getClientRects is exactly the kind of thing that would be carelessly standardized…
mindslight on HN
Questions
Does it work across different browsers on the same machine?
From 3 comments
I could beat it by using a different browser (e.g. chrome vs firefox) on my machine.
agrafix on HNNote that your fingerprint is equal among your Firefox and Tor Browser on the same machine.
Capira on HNAcross browsers it works only if both browsers are based on the same engine. - Group1: Chrome, Chromium, Opera, ... - Group2: Firefox, Tor Browser, ... - Group3: on iOS every…
Capira on HN
Alternatives named
Brave browser blocks this fingerprinting method
From 1 comment
Interesting, Brave browser blocks this method.
joshmanders on HN